Recon tools - the final stretch - 40% off all tools

[bkharman]

...Usually in the case of 'first come, first serve,' there aren't usually waiting lists...

This is why I equate this process more to "waiting in line".  If you want to wait in line to get the first come first serve offering...and you REALLY want it, you wait in line for it.  if you don't want to wait in line, you may or may not get it.  if Shane or Bob or Tom or any other vendor said "hey, I am not taking pre-orders, you will need to call at midnight",  I would have done that.

I also agree that there could be a better way to handle the recon's only but that is up to Festool (and by extension, Shane) to evaluate the thought of it or options.

Maybe a store front that you can't actually buy stuff from??  Reminds me of this scene...

 

[Throwback7r]

Have any of you guys gone black friday shopping in the U.S. or look at the iPhone release? It was just like that. People lining up ready to buy stuff. Some arrive early and some show up late. If you show up when the store opens your not first. I feel bad for the dealers that were up at midnight doing data entry manually.

 

[dltflt]

Well I just got the news that I was one of the lucky ones.  Thanks to Uncle Bob.

 

[Bob Marino]

Simple....??????  I've worked for the State for some time! The more complex, the better I sleep! Of course my stomach..... [tongue]

Thanks for your selfless service to us Festool Freaks Bob! Your the best! I keep checking the Recon site.....gonna be another long, somewhat "Christmas Eve to a 12 year old" night for me

Hey Chris, Thanks for the kind words and great actually speaking to you earlier today.
Just a mention though to those here on the FOG another reason I wish Festool would sell the Recons directly. I was just finishing dinner and I see a missed call and a post here that my mailbox was full and I was not answering my phone. When I saw that I immediately contacted the customer who wanted a particular tool but could not get a hold of me. I thanked him for letting me know about the mailbox thing, told him I would keep an eye out for the missed tool, but did make mention of the fact that I was eating dinner with family and did not hear my phone and frankly, there needs to be an hour or so in the day - dinner time in particular, where you put down the phone and enjoy family.
This is no knock at all against the customer, who happens to be a great guy, but it illustrates another fault in the ordering system. What happens  (and has happened many times in the recent past) when you get a recon tool order - during business hours - to be fair to every dealer not offering after hours service, and you are driving, or shopping or at a diner or at the movies or doing a tool demo, or getting PT - as I was at  8 am, pick your place, where and when you don't have quick access to the Internet and that recon tool may not be available for too long?  Some might say, this is your choice and the "monster you created" but what decent dealer wants to not be there for his customer? My cell phone is my business phone and I carry it all the time. I don't know many, if any, dealers are more accessible, perhaps there are plenty.
Surely, the process I mentioned before - have Festool sell the recon tools directly, would alleviate the customers having to wait to call or to get a call back from their dealer/dealers and simply place the order directly and be done with it.

  Bob

 

[Bob Marino]

Well I just got the news that I was one of the lucky ones.  Thanks to Uncle Bob.

Don, thanks and glad to have helped you snag it, but even with all the bitchin' and moanin', its FESTOOL who has offered the dealeo, we dealer are kind of the facilitators. And I stil am in the process of informing some customers of the good  - as well as - bad news.

B

 

[xtrememtnbiker]

Simple....??????  I've worked for the State for some time! The more complex, the better I sleep! Of course my stomach..... [tongue]

Thanks for your selfless service to us Festool Freaks Bob! Your the best! I keep checking the Recon site.....gonna be another long, somewhat "Christmas Eve to a 12 year old" night for me

Hey Chris, Thanks for the kind words and great actually speaking to you earlier today.
Just a mention though to those here on the FOG another reason I wish Festool would sell the Recons directly. I was just finishing dinner and I see a missed call and a post here that my mailbox was full and I was not answering my phone. When I saw that I immediately contacted the customer who wanted a particular tool but could not get a hold of me. I thanked him for letting me know about the mailbox thing, told him I would keep an eye out for the missed tool, but did make mention of the fact that I was eating dinner with family and did not hear my phone and frankly, there needs to be an hour or so in the day - dinner time in particular, where you put down the phone and enjoy family.
This is no knock at all against the customer, who happens to be a great guy, but it illustrates another fault in the ordering system. What happens  (and has happened many times in the recent past) when you get a recon tool order - during business hours - to be fair to every dealer not offering after hours service, and you are driving, or shopping or at a diner or at the movies or doing a tool demo, or getting PT - as I was at  8 am, pick your place, where and when you don't have quick access to the Internet and that recon tool may not be available for too long?  Some might say, this is your choice and the "monster you created" but what decent dealer wants to not be there for his customer? My cell phone is my business phone and I carry it all the time. I don't know many, if any, dealers are more accessible, perhaps there are plenty.
Surely, the process I mentioned before - have Festool sell the recon tools directly, would alleviate the customers having to wait to call or to get a call back from their dealer/dealers and simply place the order directly and be done with it.

  Bob

Hey Bob,
This is Travis, we had the connection issue yesterday and then spoke again today and I ended up getting the RAS.
I just wanted to say thanks for being an awesome dealer. In my book you're going above and beyond. I'd feel the same way if
I hadn't gotten a tool. I know you're swamped with everything. Just wanted to say thanks again!

 

[Bob Marino]

[/quote]

Hey Bob,
This is Travis, we had the connection issue yesterday and then spoke again today and I ended up getting the RAS.
I just wanted to say thanks for being an awesome dealer. In my book you're going above and beyond. I'd feel the same way if
I hadn't gotten a tool. I know you're swamped with everything. Just wanted to say thanks again!
[/quote]

Hey Travis,

Thanks! Glad I could snag that RAS, wish all customers could get all or even some of their orders fulfilled, but for those who did not get their tools, I am sure Festool has more coming out during this sale.

B

 

[vidkid26]

OK Uncle Bob. Am I to assume that if we have not heard from you or the mother ship, that our orders will not be filled? With all the back and forth in this thread, Im not  sure what comes next if I didn't get what I wanted.

Am I sill on the "secret waiting list" if it comes up again? [thumbs up]

 

[nclemmons]

Bob

I actually like your idea of Festool selling directly with a dealer selection as a part of the process.  Would make it easy.

I thought erock's comments on buying them at 40% off and selling them on eBay at 20% off was funny.  But is piqued an idea...

But given the demand and limited supply, Festool could certainly move these as used units in an auction format on their site - 1 year warranty and open it up to bidding on the tools, still with a dealer selection for easy credit.  Put an expiration date on the tools in phases and make it a continuous auction.

It certainly seems like Festool had a huge excess of tools on hand in spite of having this refurb sale going on for several months now that they decided to drop prices to 40%.  Makes you believe the '30 day free trial' program has a lot of takers who choose to return the tools. 

I did not buy on this round, but it's clear that Festool is a unique company to make these kinds of programs available and they have a very loyal dealer base willing to give up sleep to fulfill and a vocal customer base who want to debate the fairness and operations of the program overall.

Most companies would kill for this problem and base of dealers and customers!

Happy to say I'm a satisfied customer even without a purchase this time.

neil

 

[Greg M]

Where is Solomon when I need him?

He is waiting for a TS75 to show up on the list so he can use it to split the Kapex in half

I like that, very good !!!!

 

[sae]

More items went up.

 

[Bob Marino]

Where is Solomon when I need him?

He is waiting for a TS75 to show up on the list so he can use it to split the Kapex in half

I like that, very good !!!!

  I just saw this one, agree, very good!

B

 

[Greg M]

Ok, here's an idea that I mentioned years ago. Festool offers the RECON TOOLS ONLY on their site for direct sales to end customers.  Have a "box" that customers will click to give their dealer of choice credit. Obviously that commission paid would be lower that what is offered under the current system, but that's only fair, because the dealers really aren't going of the legwork. I can't imagine any dealer in such a scenerio  feeling that he was in competition with Festool.
  Way more practical, easy, fair and faster than the current archaic way the ordering system works. Win win for customers, dealers and yes even Festool. So simple, so very simple......

Bob

Now this is a great idea, would solve a lot of issues, and it would take the debate about "lists" out of the equation.  No more trying to find a dealer that's in front of a computer when you want to order day or night.  The only problem is that Festool's site would have to be able to handle heavy bursts of traffic.

 

[bkharman]

Bob

I actually like your idea of Festool selling directly with a dealer selection as a part of the process.  Would make it easy.

I thought erock's comments on buying them at 40% off and selling them on eBay at 20% off was funny.  But is piqued an idea...

But given the demand and limited supply, Festool could certainly move these as used units in an auction format on their site - 1 year warranty and open it up to bidding on the tools, still with a dealer selection for easy credit.  Put an expiration date on the tools in phases and make it a continuous auction.

It certainly seems like Festool had a huge excess of tools on hand in spite of having this refurb sale going on for several months now that they decided to drop prices to 40%.  Makes you believe the '30 day free trial' program has a lot of takers who choose to return the tools. 

I did not buy on this round, but it's clear that Festool is a unique company to make these kinds of programs available and they have a very loyal dealer base willing to give up sleep to fulfill and a vocal customer base who want to debate the fairness and operations of the program overall.

Most companies would kill for this problem and base of dealers and customers!

Happy to say I'm a satisfied customer even without a purchase this time.

neil

Personally, if Festool were to have an "eBay" like site or program, I would just buy everything at full price. The thought of bidding on this type of product would not appeal to me in the least. I would eat a bit less steak and lobster and get what matters to me without the hassle of bidding to buy.

The reason I really like the recon program is because I have had really good luck with it. Several purchases have been at 20-30%, yet looked like they came off the showroom floor. I know one day, that could be eschewed,  but I am willing to take that risk. If I have to bid for stuff... Not going to do it.

Cheers. Bryan.

 

[Greg M]

Have any of you guys gone black friday shopping in the U.S. or look at the iPhone release? It was just like that. People lining up ready to buy stuff. Some arrive early and some show up late. If you show up when the store opens your not first. I feel bad for the dealers that were up at midnight doing data entry manually.

WRONG, those things require effort and sacrifice on your part.  Very different then making a phone call and being put on a list.

 

[Bob Marino]

More items went up.

Yes sir, thanks for the heads up. Snagged a few right off that list!
Phew,  it's now 1:30 am and am betting most new items will be gone before 9 am.

Bob

 

[Nick2cd]

Hey Bob, I'm sure you're slammed with this deal!  i've been trying to call to order for a couple days but haven't been able to connect.  is there a better way to contact you to place an order for some of these recon tools?  thanks!

 

[Throwback7r]

Have any of you guys gone black friday shopping in the U.S. or look at the iPhone release? It was just like that. People lining up ready to buy stuff. Some arrive early and some show up late. If you show up when the store opens your not first. I feel bad for the dealers that were up at midnight doing data entry manually.

WRONG, those things require effort and sacrifice on your part.  Very different then making a phone call and being put on a list.

The dealer is the one that is sacrificing. The list is virtual and so is the line. Since you can't " run in and grab the product your self" you rely on your dealer of choice that is busting his or her butt.

If I was to rely on my local dealer. I would not own any Festool's my local dealer actively tells people not to buy them  for what ever reason.

 

[Keifer]

I've been trying to the same thing.
I've pm'd here and sent an email.

I know everyone is slammed with these deals. I normally wouldn't try to be a pest, but I'm just trying not to miss out with things disappearing so quickly.

Thanks

 

[fdengel]

eMail sent.

I know everyone is slammed with these deals. I normally wouldn't try to be a pest, but I'm just trying not to miss out with things disappearing so quickly.

Yep, I'm in about the same position.